By Mark Kleis

Wednesday, Aug 31st, 2011 @ 8:47 am

Both Ford's Expedition and Lincoln Navigator seem to have been mysteriously forgotten for the last several years, never mentioned and hardly touched.

In the near future that will change in a big way, however, as Lincoln's largest vehicle - the Navigator SUV - will gain the hot-selling 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 from the Ford F-150, according to Automotive News. It is unclear if the engine will be directly transplanted with power figures as-is at 365 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque, or if power will be upped slightly.

UPDATE: Ford tells Leftlane news that while the Navigator will gain the EcoBoost engine, it has not yet announced for which model year.

Given the lack of love given to the Navigator in recent years, the EcoBoost engine could be a major boon to the struggling SUV - if it isn't too late and long removed from too many shopping lists.

Also in the pipeline is an expected minor refresh - nothing major - but some minor styling tweaks to keep the face fresh. Ford's global product chief, Derrick Kuzak, indicated that the Navigator and Ford Expedition's previously planned 2012 refreshes have been put on an indefinite hold while the automaker determines whether or not it will keep the vehicles moving forward.

Lincoln updates between now and 2014
While the Lincoln Navigator update was a bit unexpected, what is expected - of Ford - is a follow through of the promise to deliver seven new or improved Lincoln products by 2014. This isn't news and has been documented by Leftlane, but Kuzak has since offered up a few new details.

For one, Kuzak confirmed that Lincoln will gain its own variant of the upcoming redesigned Ford Escape/Kuga, which was unveiled as the Veratek concept. This compact crossover is promised - like all future Lincoln products - to have significantly unique sheetmetal and design elements to drastically differentiate itself from the Blue Oval-branded counterpart.

This new CUV could arrive as early as the 2013 model year, with a mid to late-2012 market introduction.

The Fusion-based MKZ and Taurus-based MKS, as previously told, will also get significant updates for the 2013 model year. The same styling differentiation is promised for these models, and word is the 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine recently debuted in the Ford Explorer may also find its way under the hood of one, or both of these vehicles.

The Lincoln MKT is facing an uncertain future, with some indicators suggesting the oddly-shaped crossover is here to stay, but that may be limited to limousine and livery markets. Ford has not confirmed the future for this model at this time aside from an expected minor refresh for either 2012 or 2013.